Articles

Column: Try reading this R.C. column ASAP, PDQ

WORTHINGTON — I am having more trouble reading these days. If you are having trouble reading as well, it’s no wonder.

Column: Water has always been a deep subject for city

WORTHINGTON — John Fenstermacher was Worthington’s mayor. Gordon Thompson was City Clerk. Ralph Bergstrom was manager of the Campbell Soup Co. It was those three in particular but there were others. Oh — Ray Ager for the E.O. Olson Trust Fund. Day and night there was a group focused on finding water for Worthington.

Column: Junior college prepared pilots for WWII

WORTHINGTON — A Worthington boy was telling his dad about Pearl Harbor as they drove home from the cemetery on Memorial Day. He had watched a Pearl Harbor DVD he said. “The Japanese missed our carriers, but we had no way to fight back. We weren’t ready for a war.”

Column: We've come a long, long way from dollar deals

WORTHINGTON — I believe I have mentioned before that in the long, long ago that my dad had the Phillips 66 gas station on the Big Corner, the corner of Oxford and Humiston, where Walgreens is today.

Column: These Nobles County women were heroes

As Memorial Day approaches and the region prepares its annual salutes to fallen veterans, it can trace a path through at least 10 American wars.

Column: Here's a column that's a Dutch treat

WORTHINGTON — It is not a huge coincidence, but it is notable: The year the first Dutch homesteaders came to Nobles County — 1890 — is the last year the Dutch people had a king.

Column: Where are there were many twos, there are several ones

WORTHINGTON — A recent column recalled the department stores which once lined Worthington’s main street. Worthington had three. More often when a conversation centers on Worthington it is said, “Worthington had two.”

Column: Don't stand there like a statue. Take a drive to Lismore

WORTHINGTON — It was Maundy Thursday morning, or Good Friday morning. The talk was of sculpture, the crucified Christ. How many statues of the crucifixion have you seen? Where was the best Christ sculpture you have seen?

Column: Empty at first, Worthington became town of trees

WORTHINGTON — In the beginning there were no trees. Not many, anyway. A few burr oaks along some of the lakes. Plum trees along river banks. Again and again the explorers, the pioneers, described southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa as a treeless prairie.

Column: When Wright went wrong, a memorable whipping

WORTHINGTON — There was a bowling alley in Worthington in 1907. I can’t tell where it was located — 10th Street, or Second Avenue — but then as now bowling was a popular pastime.

Columns

Columnist: A valentine to women who served our country

Ann Johnson was (I believed) a striking woman. Ann was tall. They use that word, “statuesque.” She was Scandinavian without challenge. Blonde hair. October sky-blue eyes. Rosy cheeks.

Trick or treat - Nobles County has fair share of ghost stories

WORTHINGTON — Ruth Hein has been ailing lately. Every Wednesday through many years Ruth wrote a column of local history for the Daily Globe.